


HE SMILES BACK! (seungjin oneshot)

by ramkingvevo



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Aquariums, BL, Boys Love - Freeform, BoyxBoy, College, College AU, College Roommates, Fanfic, Fanfiction, Fish, Friendship, Gay, Gay Fiction, LGBT, LGBT Fanfiction, LGBT fanfic, Lowkey Crack, M/M, MalexMale, MxM - Freeform, Roommates, Roommates Hwang Hyunjin & Kim Seungmin, Seungmin Is A Fish Nerd, Socially Awkward Kim Seungmin, Stray Kids Fanfiction, awkward first encounter, bxb - Freeform, gay relationship, hwang hyunjin - Freeform, kim seungmin - Freeform, ocean creatures, seungjin - Freeform, stray kids - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramkingvevo/pseuds/ramkingvevo
Summary: ❝ GIVE ME A CHANCE AND I CAN MAKE THIS RIGHT. . . ❞Seungmin has a goldfish and is painfully quiet, while Hyunjin also has goldfish. . . Just, the cheesy cracker kind, and their first interaction was a pitifully awkward moment where in which Seungmin was entering their dorm room with his goldfish in hand, only to walk in on Hyunjin with a mouthful of crackers that he nearly choked on as he scrambled to chew and swallow them down so that he could properly introduce himself. Weeks later, they've barely spoken to one another, and Hyunjin is convinced that he offended Seungmin by eating goldfish crackers in front of his goldfish. So, he's searching for ways to make it up to him. . . A trip to an aquarium should do so nicely, right?
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44





	HE SMILES BACK! (seungjin oneshot)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starryseungss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryseungss/gifts).



> ― merry christmas, jeong! i luv you <3

Unfortunate was the word that came to mind when Hyunjin thought about his first ever interaction with Seungmin, the boy that was going to be sharing his college dorm room. Nothing had gone right, everything that could have gone wrong did so, and the elder male was left to wallow in guilt for many nights over a situation that was. . . Unusual, to say the very least of it. Strange as it were, it had happened, and Hyunjin oftentimes found himself reliving the embarrassing moment right before he fell asleep at night. He seemed to torture himself with it like he thought it was going to do him good if he just lied away, staring at the ceiling, reliving the shame and the guilt over, and over, and over again.

He'd been standing at the foot of his bed, having just finished putting a box full of his things in their proper places, and he decided that it would be fine to take a quick snack break since he hadn't had much to eat that day. Hyunjin's mother, lovely as she was, had packed him a snack box on the morning of his departure, and he certainly wasn't going to let her kindness go to waste, so he snatched up a pack of cheddar flavored goldfish crackers and tore the bag open with his teeth (something that his aforementioned lovely mother would undoubtedly have scolded him for.) She more than likely would have clocked him for his following actions as well, as he tipped the bag back and dumped a hefty mouthful of the contents into his waiting maw. Perhaps everything had gone so wrong because Hyunjin hadn't kept his wise mother's words in mind. . .

Just as the flavor sank into his taste buds, the door to the dorm room opened to reveal a boy with dark red hair, a cute face, and a small fish tank in his hands with a bright orange goldfish swimming around inside of it.

Hyunjin cringed at the memory, his whole body reacting to the embarrassment that flooded through his veins as he recalled his many missed steps. Chewing so quickly that he sank his teeth roughly into the skin of his cheek on accident, Hyunjin could practically taste the mixture of metallic blood and cheap, cheesy crackers playing on his tongue, and he fought back the urge to gag on the simple memory. He fumbled with the bag, nearly dumping them all onto the floor as he scrambled forward to place them back in the snack box. Forcing himself to swallow the less than thoroughly chewed mass of food in his mouth, Hyunjin found himself coughing as the last of it forced its way down the wrong pipe, and all Seungmin did was stand in the doorway and look at him with confused, blinking eyes.

It was everything that it shouldn't have been, —awkward, frantic, and incredibly pathetic on Hyunjin's end. And, worst of all, he was certain that he'd offended Seungmin with his consumption of goldfish crackers, seeing as it had all happened right in front of the younger male's very much alive pet. . . And Hyunjin was pretty sure that he'd once read something that said the eyesight of a goldfish was even better than that of humans. . .

Tired of feeling like that meeting was the end of the world, Hyunjin decided that tomorrow was going to be a turning point. He'd been thinking things over for weeks, —five weeks and three days if he was going to be specific about it, and finally, he'd decided to cross the line he'd drawn for himself in hopes of getting into Seungmin's good graces.

They were roommates, after all. That meant they'd be seeing a lot of one another, and Hyunjin couldn't stand the thought of living with someone that didn't think highly of him. He and Seungmin had had a total of seven conversations after weeks of living together, and they'd all been very brief, as well as subsequently unimportant. Thankfully, Hyunjin had seen a poster yesterday on his way home from class that brandished a compelling ad, stating that the long-awaited "Jellyfish Room" of a nearby aquarium had just been finished and had been filled with lots of beautiful jellyfish and was ready to be explored by visitors.

As far as Hyunjin was concerned, it was the perfect idea. Seungmin was very obviously fond of marine life, judging by his numerous books on the subject matter that he seemed to always be flipping through, as well as the cute little jellyfish LED lamp that he kept on his bookshelf. It was just the thing that Hyunjin felt he needed to make everything right and bridge the gap between them. . . And bridge that gap her certainly would.

☃️

"Can I talk to you for a second, Seungmin?" Hyunjin inquired the next afternoon as the two of them sat on opposite sides of the room, Seungmin taking notes from a textbook for one of his classes and Hyunjin scrolling through his social media absentmindedly.

The redhead looked over at the utterance of his name, but eventually nodded to show his approval.

"I know that I should have said this a long time ago, but. . . I guess I wasn't sure how to say anything, and I wasn't sure how to make things right. But, now that I have an idea, I thought it would be best to say sorry before anything else. So, I'm really sorry for how everything went down when we first met. I really wish that I could go back in time and make that first interaction. . . —Just _better_ , you know? But, since I can't do that, I was wondering if you'd let me take you to an aquarium this Saturday, both tickets on me, to make things up to you?" Hyunjin prompted with a slightly strained smile.

Seungmin was silent for a bit too long for Hyunjin's comfort, but the younger male did eventually speak up in reply.

"Going to the aquarium sounds fun, and I'd love to. . . But, what exactly are you apologizing for?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion, as everything seemed to be completely lost on him.

"For. . . For the goldfish thing?" Hyunjin blanked, his statement coming out as more of a question than anything else.

Seungmin glanced over, taking a quick peek at his small fish tank (where in which his cute little goldfish swam around, seeming completely normal and healthy.)

". . . what goldfish thing?" The redhead blinked.

"I. . . I ate the. . . The goldfish crackers in front of your fish. . ." Hyunjin stated, albeit not fluently so.

And then Seungmin _laughed_. It was a short burst of amusement as his hand slapped over his mouth a few seconds later, and he attempted to stifle everything in their tracks.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, "I didn't mean to laugh, it's not at you, it's just that you didn't do anything wrong. I promise I wasn't offended by you eating crackers."

"B-But, then why don't we ever talk or anything?" Hyunjin's cheeks heated up in response.

Seungmin glanced down at his hands, fiddling his thumbs nervously as he struggled to find the right words for a moment.

"Well I. . . I'm just kind of awkward, really. It's genuinely not you, —it's me, and I just have a hard time talking to people most of the time. I have some social anxiety, and I have some struggles communicating," Seungmin explained.

It hadn't been Hyunjin's cross to bear after all. . .

"But. . . If you still want to go to the aquarium. . ."

☃️

"You really like fish, don't you?" Hyunjin inquired, a pale smile ghosting across supple lips.

"I do," Seungmin confirmed, "and, I like all the other underwater plants and animals too. Lobsters, whales. . . You name it."

The two of them were currently standing in front of a small tank of fish, which Hyunjin hadn't really expected to see at the aquarium, but they were so pretty that he couldn't bring himself to care about the size, or lack thereof, of the tank.

"It's like they're glowing," he commented, glancing over at his roommate just for a second or two, "they almost look metallic."

"These are called Neon Tetras," Seungmin said, "they're really common fish for beginners to keep in basic at-home aquariums because they're pretty easy to take care of and they don't have any super special dietary needs or anything."

"Have you ever kept them?" Hyunjin asked.

"Not personally, but my dad's best friend had an aquarium in his house when I was growing up that his daughters and I liked sitting in front of for hours, just watching all the fish and snails interact, and he had Neon Tetras in there," the redhead answered, and it dawned on his companion that today, Hyunjin would more than likely be hearing Seungmin's voice a lot. . . And, really, he looked forward to that.

"Oh, and do you see that line that goes down their backs?" Seungmin pointed, keeping his fingers away from the glass itself so that he didn't dirty the crystal clearness.

Hyunjin nodded, humming lightly in confirmation.

"That lateral stripe can change in response to light conditions," the younger male informed him.

"Color changing fish?" Hyunjin's eyes widened slightly in response, "that sounds like something you'd see advertised in the toy section of a store, —little toy fish that change color based on temperature and stuff."

"It does sound like a marketing ploy, doesn't it?" Seungmin giggled, and the sight of his eyes turning into little crescent moons as he did so made Hyunjin's heart skip.

 _He's cute_.

"Are you secretly trying to sell me something, Seungmin?" The raven haired boy joked.

"Not yet," came the playful answer, and it was then that the two of them each noted the chemistry between them.

It was something they hadn't noticed before due to limited interactions, but now that they were alone, —joking, laughing, and sharing moments together, there was no denying the way they bounced off one another. Natural and organic, their dynamic was enticing, and that one interaction left the both of them wondering just how far they could go together.

"Oh," Hyunjin's attention was quickly stolen away by something else, "let's go over there, —I want to see that striped fish close up!"

Lithe fingers wrapping around Seungmin's wrist lightly to drag him elsewhere, the redhead was both amused and delighted by Hyunjin's enthusiasm.

"The yellowish-orange ones with grey stripes?" Seungmin inquired.

"Mhm," the taller male confirmed with a nod, eyes keenly following the motions of the fish he was so entranced by as they swam through the greenery of their tank, weaving in and out of the swaying leaves.

"That's a Clown Loach. They're pretty social, so when you keep them at home, you're supposed to get at least five of them, or more. Those two over there in the corner," Seungmin gestured, "—it might look like one of them is being hurt because they're chasing each other around, but they're just playing. A lot of people say that they're like the puppies of the fish world because of how they interact with each other, it can be seen as similar to how puppies play."

"That's adorable," Hyunjin couldn't help himself from gushing, "I love that."

"What about those ones?"

"Those are Rainbow Fish," Seungmin answered, "—Dwarf Rainbow Fish, I think."

"Hey, were you ever read a book about a Rainbow Fish when you were younger? About the pretty fish that was really lonely, and eventually shared his scales with the other fish and realized that sharing made him happier than being the most beautiful fish in the ocean?" Hyunjin asked.

"Of course," Seungmin answered, "I think everyone was told that story when they were younger. It was my favorite for a long time, actually."

"So then, you've liked fish for a long time?" The taller boy curiously inquired.

"Definitely," Seungmin nodded, "for as long as I can remember. All my favorite stuffed animals when I was younger were of animals like dolphins, sharks, —even an octopus. I don't know. . . I guess some things are just meant to be."

Hyunjin had the fleeting thought that Seungmin's statement was right, —so right, in fact, that it blatantly encompassed their blossoming friendship. However, all of his sentiments were put on the back burner as soon as he turned his head to a sign that showed penguins with an arrow pointing down an adjacent hall.

Their time spent together was magical, almost. The both of them got to walk through section after section of beautiful creatures, ranging from colorful fish like the ombred Royal Grammas who's scales were so brightly colored like a glorious sunset that Hyunjin was almost certain they weren't real when he first spotted them, to the large Emperor Angelfish that Seungmin was very excited to see in person. They got to see penguins, which Hyunjin was incredibly happy about, and he stayed in front of their exhibit for a good twenty minutes just watching them move about and interact with one another.

Seungmin also gave Hyunjin a little lesson on seahorses, they walked through a cave-like section of a hallway that had an underwater view of a nicely sized shark, as well as other varying little fish that swam about without a care in the world, even in the presence of their natural predator. And they did all of it together, laughing together, hands brushing up against the others every so often, grasping one anothers' wrists when either of them saw something exciting. For the first time in a while, Seungmin felt that someone cared enough to make him feel secure. Hyunjin was warm, inviting, and open as they come, —sweet and funny to the point that Seungmin felt little to no stress being in his presence. He didn't feel any pressure to put on a facade and pretend to be something that he wasn't.

"I feel like I'm watching something from another world," Hyunjin said, just under his breath as he and Seungmin sat side by side on one of the few benches in the , perhaps a bit too close judging by the way their knees ghosted together at every small movement

"They are from another world, in a way," Seungmin responded in a small, quiet voice, the atmosphere in the exhibit causing most to lower their voices in the darkness, "only five percent of the ocean has been explored by humans. . . So, I guess it really is just another world that we hardly know anything about."

"Do you want to explore the rest of it one day?" Hyunjin asked as he watched a glowing orb of light drift across the tank, tendrils moving with the water behind it, moving without eyes, moving with senses Hyunjin couldn't even begin to understand.

"Of course," Seungmin responded, "aren't you curious about what all is down there that we can't even begin to conceptualize?"

"Well. . . I guess that I'd never really given it a thought before now," the elder male admitted, "but, now that you're mentioning it, and now that I know a little more than I did before. . . Yeah, I am."

"I just wonder what it's like down there," Seungmin said in an almost dreamy tone, "and even the ones we know about, I wonder how they perceive the world. Like these jellyfish for instance, they don't have bones, or a brain, or a heart. So how do they move through the world? What's it like for them?"

In a way, the question Seungmin spoke out into the open air seemed to be less directed to Hyunjin, and more directed to the beautiful jellyfish that drifted through the water before them.

"Do you think it'd be fun to be a jellyfish in your next life?" Hyunjin asked.

Seungmin snickered lightly.

"Maybe."

The younger male's eyes were reflecting the beautiful jellyfish like sparkling stars, and Hyunjin had to think, for the first time in his life, if this is what it felt like to be taken by someone, to want to know someone so deeply that you sink into their skin and swim through their very blood. He wanted to know Seungmin, for everything that he was and everything he feared he never could be.

 _Maybe_ , _maybe_ , _maybe_.

"I'm getting hungry," Seungmin spoke up, pulling himself to his feet, "let's go find somewhere to eat. It's on me."

Hyunjin simply nodded, stood up from the bench, and followed Seungmin out of the room. Sparing a final glance at the jellyfish, Hyunjin couldn't help but to hope that, one day, he'd be as interesting to Seungmin as they were.

But little did he know, he already was.


End file.
